Obama the Emergent

by The Rev. Raj Wiseman January 21, 2008

The emergence of Barak Obama from out of nowhere and his challenging even progressive forces of the political establishment gives this writer reason to pause and consider the arcane possibility that Mr. Obama is more than merely an agent of conventional change, but a vehicle for the forces and intentions of creative change itself -in a word, emergence.

We know that the spiral of evolution generally grinds out its day-to-day movements in slow, complex and convoluted -even painful- drudgery. But it is punctuated with occasional bursts of creativity, insight and quantum leaps forward.

When such openings are deep and profound science has coined the word/concept 'emergence' to designate the opening of such a portal. Every truly significant ground breaking insight, flash of genius, and planetary avatar carries in his/her mind or heart a healthy dose of such emergence.

When in the Idaho primary Mr. Obama burst forward with startling presence, upsetting conventional wisdom and radically changing the tenure of the entire field overnight around the notion of 'change', I was convinced that this man may in fact be a herald of the New, dawning in the realm of secular politics. Not that there are others not equally endowed, or perhaps even more so. But not at this level, not with the appropriate qualifications, and not so convincing. Keeping in mind that emergence is utterly dependent upon its context for meaning and value, Barak may be a veritable child of the horizon xculturally new and complex,successfully integrating and navigating diverse cultural modalities, brimming with the hope of the possible. But only when the poison of divisiveness is left behind. This accounts for his authentic message anent leaving the duality of polarizing partisanship behind for the middle ground of unity and progressive moderation -although such a position does indeed seem rather 'liberal' to the entrenched agenda of the old patriarchal ego.

Contrasting Mr. Obama's notions of change with that of the Clintons, Billary's take on change is here likened to merely replacing the worn tires on your car with another set of the same ilk, and so designated 'new' if you insist. 'Upgraded' in a sense,'renewed' perhaps, but profound change it is not. Obviously Mr. Obama wants more than that -he wants a new vehicle. It may not be of the most technologically advanced kind, but one which can embody the best of what everyone has to contribute. It may not be hip, but it'll be balanced -best serving everyone's needs in the long haul.

And a comment if I may, about recent reactions to husband Bill's coming forward as co-candidate. What did you really expect? Hellox. It is becoming obvious that Hillary herself is not electable, but that the Clintons are indeed viable. And why not? There are no overt laws discounting such a play, and socially we have husband/wife teams doing such in other domains. And after the debacle of George the Neanderthal, even Billary is starting to look pretty darn good.-

And what about the many complaints that the Clinton's are ganging up on Mr. Obama, tag-teaming our poor lowly angel of emergence, despite that fact that in the real world 'all's fair in love, war, and politics'. As with all people consumed with their place in history, the Clinton's are engaged in a wholesale knock down to win the presidency and everything else comes later. All to Mr. Obama's betterment, quite frankly. One of the problems of emergent systems is their incompleteness, being insufficient to adequately sustain their existence in the midst of contrary forces and intentions. If Mr. Obama is to truly champion the noble causes he espouses he is going to need all the requisite characteristics and toughness to carry through and adequately engage the mundane world. The love-taps the Clinton's are offering up are little more than your lame old dog's bad breath, tolerable because its in the family. Wait until the stench of vile enemies are breathing down your neck before you start wailing 'foul'!

There's one final item of interest that should be addressed here, and it concerns the populace's actual tolerance for real change. As with the kind of emergence I am outlining here, ground breaking, paradigm altering visions cannot, as a rule, be stomached by the masses, who usually take generations of slow change, education, and arm twisting to get to embrace the original inspirations of our heroes. This means that although there are indeed many voters who revel in the oratories of Mr. Obama and the hope that he inspires, when it actually comes to changes in lifestyle or the sacrifices that many may be called upon to shoulder to help forward the programs that Mr. Obama is leaning towards, he may find that the populace is peopled with less than willing participants in ObamaWorld.

If Barak is truly an agent of such emergence -which means that there can indeed be a much larger will at work than we may see at present- then long overdue changes may be intended by Life itself. If so more surprises are at hand.-Rev. Wiseman is a specialist in comparative religion, spiritual psychology, and a lineage holder in one of the eastern wisdom traditions. He teaches regularly at his dharma center Trin-Star, located in Lakewood, Co. (303) 232-3701